How do you keep up with your league?

[22tbrads22]

I have this bad habit of getting 8-9 years into my rebuilds and losing interest because I know nothing about the players in the league. I try to keep up but can’t seem to. Any tips you guys have on keeping up with the players in your league so you can be a little more immersed?

[ChrisJNelson]

This definitely happens to me too so would be curious to hear what others say!

[kq76]

Play out at least some or part of your games? I play out every inning of all of my team's games, but some people like to sim to the 6th or 7th inning or only play some series. I think you get a real feel for each player when you watch their up and down streaks play out instead of just seeing the statistical results. Maybe start your own fictional league from scratch? You can use real world cities or you can make up your own worlds. Both work for me, but some people may get more into their worlds if they create everything about them.

I get far more immersed in fictional leagues than leagues with real players so it certainly is possible.

[reds1]

If your league is fictional, I suggest keeping its size manageable and write a dynasty.

Admittedly, that's not everyone's cup of tea. But one other thing I like to do is select the best player at each position at the end of each season based on performance. Just the process of evaluating the players and narrowing down the choices to two or three at each position definitely gets you better acquainted with players outside of your own organization.

[pauwoo]

I use shortlists to track players - I have one for top 10 draft picks, one for players with names I think are cool or funny, one for certain types of hitters, pitchers, etc. The universe I play has an NCAA feeder, so I add players to my various shortlists each year when the game generates new freshman and then again after the draft.

[BusterKing]

I started my present league in 2019 with the Blue Jays, I am now in year 2027, I play all of my team's games one pitch mode substitutions only. (So far in 8 complete years I made the playoffs the last 5 years and never made the World Series yet, lost 2 wild card and 3 Division series).

After every game I check the MLB scores and read all the box scores, this way I get to know who's who. Before I start a series I check the opponent's home screen and review their lineups, pitching, injuries.

All this keeps me engaged with my league, works for me.

Been playing every OOTP version since #1 and loving it.

[ohiodevil]

If I am playing a real world game, I will sometimes change some of the higher drafted players names to famous baseball characters from movies (i.e. Crash Davis, Roy Hobbs, Rick Vaughn, etc...), but I do check to make sure they are not real players before I do this.

If I play fictional, I will sprinkle in those same players and add new ones over time. It's fun to see what becomes of Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh or Steve Nebraska over time.

[22tbrads22]

Love the responses! How long does it take some of you to finish a season in your leagues? Hard for me when a season isn’t going my way to really take my time, but it seems like that’s what I need to do

[Pelican]

I am guessing this thread/question is limited to leagues populated by fictional players, which is something I have not yet dared to attempt. And that was before thinking of the problem mentioned here.

In my historical leagues, I tend to go back and forth, hot and cold, between various sims (as many as ten total), always playing out games for my chosen team. Even with known players, I tend to forget changes (lineups, rotations, promotions/demotions) I made, when I’ve been away too long. I tend to look back at recent box scores, check transactions, confirm injuries before resuming.

[Syd Thrift]

I think the getting immersed is its own thing. I play out all my league’s games from the 7th inning on, which is probably too much for most people, but surely you can play out your own team’s games. While you’re in those, look up the opponents and figure out what the narrative is. Are they a mediocre team kept above water by one or two stars? Is there a guy chasing a big number? Does someone do something - anything - really well? Hell, does someone have a cool name or an awesome mustache? Just, you know, collect stuff that is fun for you and the league will come together.

[pgjocki]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I think the getting immersed is its own thing. I play out all my league’s games from the 7th inning on, which is probably too much for most people, but surely you can play out your own team’s games. While you’re in those, look up the opponents and figure out what the narrative is. Are they a mediocre team kept above water by one or two stars? Is there a guy chasing a big number? Does someone do something - anything - really well? Hell, does someone have a cool name or an awesome mustache? Just, you know, collect stuff that is fun for you and the league will come together.

Wow, each game huh? I like to play out the first 3 innings as I like to see how my starters are progressing then I sim to the 8th inning and finish the game. If I'm up by 4 or down by 3 I just fast sim to the end of the game and move on. I can usually finish a season in 3 or 4 weeks but the off-season can easily take another 1-2 weeks as I end up enjoying that part of the game more than the individual games.

I've also been spending way more time in Spring Training than in years past as I play guys at new positions and evaluate my young guys. This also gets me interested in my minor leagues as I spend time deciding who gets the invite and then I put them on a short list for the upcoming season.

[Syd Thrift]

The years go pretty slowly but that’s a feature to me, not a bug. You do get to know everyone well and that kind of also makes it so you prefer to slow things down and experience the league in the moment. Will Ty Stover start hitting, or is he washed at the age of 38? Will Josh Lewis be the A+ prospect that BNN thinks he is (actually he’s hitting over .300 now so that question might be answered)? Why did Cleveland just seemingly fall apart in one season, and will they bounce back? These are all I guess things you can look back on but tbh I kind of prefer enjoying the uncertainty.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by 22tbrads22

Love the responses! How long does it take some of you to finish a season in your leagues? Hard for me when a season isn’t going my way to really take my time, but it seems like that’s what I need to do

It depends of course. Sometimes you'll be really into the game playing a lot and sometimes you might play it less frequently. I play only my team's regular season and postseason games in play-by-play mode (as opposed to pitch-by-pitch mode, those players are hard core!) usually while something else is playing in the background and I zoom through the first 4 or 5 innings just pressing the spacebar briefly looking at each play. It's only once you get to the 6th or 7th that you usually have to really start paying attention, if you're controlling the substitutions that is.

I'd say, in general, it takes maybe 2 months for me to play out a season. And while that might seem like a long time, I used to play in online leagues, which IIRC usually took about 3 months to complete a season. So in comparison, 2 months to play out a season isn't that long. I understand, some people like to whip through seasons just looking at the results, and I've done that in the past too, but you do get a lot more from playing out the games. I've even learned more about the game of baseball from doing that which has surprised me. I'm sure I'd learn even more if I ventured into pitch-by-pitch mode and controlled everything.

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I think the getting immersed is its own thing. I play out all my league’s games from the 7th inning on, which is probably too much for most people, but surely you can play out your own team’s games. While you’re in those, look up the opponents and figure out what the narrative is. Are they a mediocre team kept above water by one or two stars? Is there a guy chasing a big number? Does someone do something - anything - really well? Hell, does someone have a cool name or an awesome mustache? Just, you know, collect stuff that is fun for you and the league will come together.

Yeah, that's a good point. I like to get a feel for my opponents too, especially my division rivals and postseason opponents. Who are their best players? Who is injured (maybe they're weaker than they usually are)? Are they more of an offensive team or defensive (the Team Stats Rankings widget is great)? Are they better against LHP or RHP (see the Info tab)? If it's a really important series I'll even drill down into their players' stats and ratings trying to see if any of their players are weak to LHPs to try to make the best use of my LHP relievers. How's my scouting accuracy of their active roster, should I scout them again?

Originally Posted by reds1

But one other thing I like to do is select the best player at each position at the end of each season based on performance. Just the process of evaluating the players and narrowing down the choices to two or three at each position definitely gets you better acquainted with players outside of your own organization.

I've been meaning to do this too. I should do it retroactively. But even just voting for all-stars and the end of year awards helps in this respect too. I also like looking at my team's Position Rankings (Meet the Team tab) seeing how my team stacks up (our 3B is in the bottom half, really? okay, well maybe I should upgrade that position). The various Rankings Reports (Lg > Reports > * Rankings) have even more of that.

Originally Posted by pgjocki

I also been spending way more time in Spring Training than in years past as I play guys at new positions and evaluate my young guys. This also gets me interested in my minor leagues as I spend time deciding who gets the invite and then I put them on a short list for the upcoming season.

This is the thing I plan on spending a lot more time on next season. I usually just sim through most of spring training and the pre season, but I think there's actually a lot that can be done then. Like trying to train players at other positions. You're weak at 3B, but have 5 good outfielders? Well, maybe you can train one of them at 3B. Do you have a lot of pitchers who could start? Well, maybe you should pay closer attention to their outings in the preseason to get an idea of who should start in the regular season, instead of just going off of the past or seeing how they sort themselves out as the season goes on. Do some preliminary long-term contract extension investigating. I already determined that, in general, the sooner you sign a guy the cheaper he'll be so why am I usually waiting until the offseason to extend guys? Sure, there's more risk involved, but not every player is fragile and maybe their ask is shockingly low right now. EDIT: I'm sure there's even more to do then that I haven't even considered yet.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by 22tbrads22

Love the responses! How long does it take some of you to finish a season in your leagues? Hard for me when a season isn’t going my way to really take my time, but it seems like that’s what I need to do

I play out ever inning of every game including spring training. After each game I look over the "score" page of MLB (not the minors) and check the R-H-E, HR, WP, S, and POG. If a game sticks out I check the boxscore.

After that I "finish" the day and go through my mail (reading every one and most times digging into the links included) and my bookmarks...

MLB standings
BNN (the old html page) where I click on "all transactions" and read those
MLB Home page
World Home Page
MLB transactions set to Waivers tab
MLB transactions set to Prospects Pipeline tab
My team page
My office page
History

If there are any trades I look them over on the trade page clicking on every player involved.

I also review any player that is extended, discovered, retired, waiver claimed, signed from the FA pile, etc. etc. etc.

It takes about 12 to 13 weeks to complete a season. When a new version comes out I import my league into it and continue. Been playing the same game (started with v4) since 2002 and continue on with v23 in 2022.

It's about the journey, not how fast I get there.

[HerbD]

I suggest that anything you have the option to do yourself, do it. I mean picking all-star teams, award winners, etc. Also try playing/simming post season games. I also like to track things that the game does not track like 30/30 club, 40/40 club, hit streaks by team, etc.

[Roy Tucker]

Wish it was still like the older versions of OOTP in terms of HTML. In the older versions, maybe stopped around ootp xi or so, all html links inclusing player links and team links would lead to other html links. it made it feel like a real web site, much more immersive.

[oldfatbaldguy]

Sweed is doing even more than I do, but I play out every game for my team in one-pitch mode, including preseason, because I want to spread out playing time in preseason my way. I follow my fictional league fairly closely, am familiar with most star players, etc. Managing every game makes that easy. It takes me even longer because I'm always juggling other games rather than exclusively playing OOTP.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Wish it was still like the older versions of OOTP in terms of HTML. In the older versions, maybe stopped around ootp xi or so, all html links inclusing player links and team links would lead to other html links. it made it feel like a real web site, much more immersive.

Are you talking about the old BNN Page? It's still there with all of the links it always had. Or is it something else? Two screenshots so you can see the whole thing.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Wish it was still like the older versions of OOTP in terms of HTML. In the older versions, maybe stopped around ootp xi or so, all html links inclusing player links and team links would lead to other html links. it made it feel like a real web site, much more immersive.

While this still exists, the game used to manually build out that entire HTML, which took up a crap-ton of space, whereas now it only does it dynamically. I get that it would be cool to have all that again but short of allowing OOTP to get set up as a server on your computer (which has all sorts of security issues) that's just not a great idea TBH.

Even when you go to BBRef, they haven't actually created every single individual link; rather, they have a template and then they call an API on their backend to get the actual data to fill it in. You'd need a setup like that to make it really and truly work and as noted, that's a gigantic security issue (plus there's the problem with having to engineer everything to each individual's own firewall, etc.). There are of course programs like StatCast that allow you to do this anyway but you'll need to export all of your data to a MySQL database or the like.

[CubMariner]

As a total noob to the game (long time SOM player), I've found this thread very helpful! I finally got the chance yesterday to start dabbling with a league and found myself amazed that five hours went by!